Assign Cases to Fixed Multiple-Baseline Staggers

To assign cases to multiple-baseline staggers, first fix the stagger positions, then randomly map the enrolled cases to those positions. With four distinct cases and four distinct starts, complete equal-probability assignment has 4!, or 24, mappings. Preserve the case roster, positions, permutation set, random draw, selected and delivered mapping, and context. This differs from randomizing a start window separately within each case.

Lock cases and stagger positions

Define the enrolled roster and fixed start positions before the draw. Record late entrants and withdrawals as later events.

Generate the permutation set

For n distinct cases and positions, enumerate the allowed mappings and apply any prospectively justified blocks or restrictions.

Draw and preserve the mapping

Store the random method, seed, selected permutation, timestamp, and person responsible. Limit access when allocation concealment is part of the protocol.

Track delivered positions

Record actual start, missed observations, site closure, withdrawal, or reassignment without overwriting the selected mapping.

Separate placement from start-window randomization

State whether chance mapped cases to fixed starts, selected starts within cases, or performed both. The analysis must match the mechanism.

Build Tessa's case-position permutation table

For the assign cases to multiple-baseline staggers question, start with a locked protocol and a versioned case-position permutation table. Record Tessa's design, setting, randomization unit, complete schedules, constraints, assignment probabilities, draw, selected schedule, delivered schedule, statistic, tail, tie and missing-data rules, software, and reviewers. Link each schedule position to the original time-series record. The file should let an independent analyst reconstruct random case-to-stagger assignment without guessing what was possible before outcomes.

Work the schedule example for Tessa

Tessa's study has fixed intervention starts at observations 5, 8, 11, and 14 for four enrolled sites. The 24 possible case-to-start permutations receive equal probability. A documented draw assigns the sites to the four positions before baseline starts; the selected mapping remains visible beside the actual implementation dates. Show the schedule generator, inclusion tests, probability calculation, draw evidence, and selected sequence at full precision. This fictional example illustrates mapping cases to fixed start positions; it does not establish a universal phase length, alpha, power level, or treatment plan.

Audit Tessa's assignment evidence

Tessa's table lists four case IDs, four fixed starts, all 24 mappings, probability 1/24, seed, selected mapping, site characteristics, delivered starts, replacements, withdrawals, and analysis record. It preserves the roster that existed at assignment. The audit also checks timestamps, protocol amendments, allocation concealment when applicable, cancellations, replacements, missing positions, phase labels, probability totals, software version, and whether the analysis generator matches the design generator. Unresolved discrepancies stay on hold.

Prevent the assignment error in Tessa's review

Placing the most stable or convenient case in the earliest stagger is purposeful assignment. Tessa's design either randomizes the case mapping prospectively or describes the placement honestly and forgoes the corresponding randomization claim. Randomization means chance operated at the named assignment step under the documented scheme. Varied, alternating, staggered, or response-guided schedules are not automatically randomized.

Integrate design and visual evidence for Tessa

The report checks whether case differences, site timing, recruitment order, or attrition affect interpretation. Random case placement can reduce selection bias in stagger mapping, while generalization still depends on the recruited cases and replications. The WWC Version 5.0 handbook is a research-review standard, not a universal clinical protocol. Review the graph, level, trend, variability, immediacy, overlap, consistency, measurement quality, assignment fidelity, original-unit magnitude, and every planned replication.

Protect Tessa's participation

The random case-to-stagger assignment never outranks Tessa's welfare. Keep augmentative and alternative communication, interpreters, mobility, food, water, bathroom use, prescribed care, health support, rest, relationships, and emergency help available. Use accessible consent and assent processes and honor withdrawal or distress. If safety, medical need, access, or choice changes the schedule, qualified people act and document the design consequence.

Use design-specific sources for Tessa

For Tessa's mapping cases to fixed start positions, the BACB ethics hub and CASP public summary provide professional context, and the BCBA Test Content Outline identifies examination content on measurement and single-case design. A randomized SCED overview covers phase and alternation schemes. Research on multiple-baseline power, rapid alternation, and changing-criterion randomization shows design-specific behavior. A health-sciences methods paper discusses randomized phase, alternation, and case-placement options. Nonconcurrent multiple-baseline research addresses assignment and design-quality issues. ASHA supports continuous AAC access.

Rehearse Tessa's schedule before collecting outcomes

Before the four-site staff-training study begins, Tessa's team runs the case-position permutation table with fictional schedules and outcomes. The rehearsal checks the earliest and latest permissible assignment, probability totals, selected-schedule trace, delivered-schedule fields, statistic, missing-data behavior, and a hand-worked reference result. Reviewers store test cases, expected outputs, code version, and correction log. The dry run can repair mechanics before outcomes; it cannot use Tessa's future data to change the assignment scheme.

Define Tessa's stop, pause, and amendment rules

Tessa's protocol names who may stop or pause the random case-to-stagger assignment, which health, safety, assent, access, staffing, technology, or feasibility events trigger action, and how urgent care proceeds. It separates an immediate protective action from a later research amendment. Any amendment receives a new version, date, rationale, approval path, and prospective assignment set; the original schedule and data remain intact. The team also tells Tessa how to withdraw or raise a concern through an accessible route. These rules make the humane response predictable and keep a necessary change from being hidden as ordinary schedule variation.

Close Tessa's design review

Review the case-position permutation table with Tessa, the responsible clinician, and a statistician or methodologist familiar with the exact design. Preserve protocol, schedule set, probabilities, draw, selected and delivered sequence, raw data, graph, code, outputs, deviations, inference limits, client input, and decisions. Keep the page draft and noindex until every named review is complete.

How to Randomly Assign Cases to Fixed Multiple-Baseline Staggers